Menu

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

FR Ghillie Suit Wins DOD Acquisition Award

We had touched on the solicitation for a flame resistant ghillie suit last year and unexpectedly caused some controversy concerning the cost and effectiveness of the venture. The U.S. Army notes that the FR Ghillie was developed due to two soldiers losing their lives in Iraq when their suits caught fire in Iraq. It is obviously difficult to ascertain how many lives may be saved and attribute this to the cost of development for such an item and the Army acknowledges this fact.

FR Ghillie Suit

Clearly there will probably always be someone out there to dispute these types of decisions when it comes to tax payers dollars at play, but we are certain that this development by Neal Nguyen, Project Manager of Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment along with vendor Source One had nothing but good intentions. Just as it is clear that there are some areas of waste, but don't confuse the two.

The biggest winner is the Direct Acquisition Challenge program, which the Army utilizes to acquire advanced technology products from private small businesses like Source One and finalized the product to their needs. This is a great boon for the economy and allows the U.S. Army to avoid much of the R&D costs associated with many of the products that they need. You can read the full report the award along with other winners at: Army.mil